Ridley (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Ridley is a [[weight|heavyweight]] character and the tallest fighter in the game, tied for the 12th heaviest character, and possesses the third lowest [[traction]]. Ridley has overall good mobility, especially compared to most of his fellow heavyweights: with two midair jumps, slightly above average [[walk]] speed, tied with {{SSBU|Charizard}} for the 10th fastest [[dash]]ing speed, average [[air speed]], [[air acceleration]] and [[gravity]], and the 17th fastest [[falling speed]]. Ridley also boasts faster frame data than most heavyweights, further setting him apart from them.

Ridley's most defining trait is his potent and varied [[punishment|punish]] game and aerial pressure. With remarkably long range, high power and decent speed throughout his moveset, as well as a [[projectile]], Ridley is a serious threat once he gets the advantage; with opponents often overwhelmed and/or find it difficult to get in. His key strength is his strong air game. Boasting overall quick, powerful, long-ranged aerials, and decent air mobility give Ridley overall excellent air pressure potential. Thanks to his additional jump and relatively high fast fall speed, he has superb vertical flexibility, and can use additional jumps or surprise fastfalls to fake out and punish his opponents with his far-reaching aerials. His [[neutral aerial]] is arguably his most effective aerial, having low all-around lag, good range, and average knockback. It is a good comboing, spacing, and [[edge-guarding]] tool, while also being fast enough to break out opposing pressure if positioned correctly; these traits make it among the best of its kind and one of Ridley's most commonly used moves. [[Forward aerial]], while having average power, has the highest damage output of Ridley's aerials when all hits are sweetspotted, and is able to perform a [[wall of pain]] at low percentages, especially due to Ridley's aforementioned two midair jumps. [[Back aerial]] is decently quick, long-ranged and has consistently high damage and knockback, making it a deadly KO move, especially if used off-stage for edge-guarding. [[Up aerial]] is a good, disjointed juggling move with decent startup and good KO potential when sweetspotted, but requires opponents to be very close to or above Ridley to land. Lastly, [[down aerial]] is a stall-and-fall that powerfully [[meteor smash]]es opponents when sweetspotted, and can potentially be recovered from if initiated slightly above the ground. Even when sourspotted, it has high KO potential, similar to Bowser's own down aerial.

Like most Heavyweights, Ridley has an abundance of powerful moves, with his tail-based moves having higher power if sweetspotted with the bladed end of his tail. His power also leads into one of his other primary strengths: his edge-guarding ability. His powerful air game gives him the innate ability to edge-guard offstage effectively, as many of his attacks have great KO or gimping potential, while his long-distanced recovery makes coming back to the stage a non-issue. His neutral aerial has decent range and is powerful when sweetspotted at the tip. Forward aerial boasts great wall of pain potential with enough reach and a long enough duration to effectively gimp most recovering opponents. Finally, as mentioned before, his back aerial has the strongest and most consistent knockback of his aerials. Ridley also has easy ways to set up edge-guards; his down tilt and down throw are both reliable combo starters that launch at favorable angles, and he has plenty of other attacks that deal high horizontal knockback, such as forward tilt and dash attack.

Ridley's grounded game is also noteworthy in terms of utility. His [[neutral attack]] is his fastest attack, and has both great damage potential thanks to its infinite, and surprising power due to the regular third hit. His [[forward tilt]] has good range and low lag overall, while dealing high knockback if sweetspotted, with the low aim version being a reliable two-framing option. Meanwhile, his [[up tilt|up]] and [[down tilt]]s offer varied potential, with up tilt being a great anti-air that chains into itself, most aerials, and even up smash, whereas down tilt allows Ridley to combo off from a safe distance and set up punishes or juggles. His [[dash attack]] is one of the few to lack a sourspot, and has respectable power. [[Forward smash]] has below-average startup (around the same as {{SSBU|Mr. Game & Watch}} and {{SSBU|Palutena}}) and is short ranged, but is one of the strongest of its kind in both damage and knockback, and is just fast enough to two frame and punish whiffs, landings, or be a more situational follow up, like off a late hit of a landing neutral aerial, or a frame tight execution after a gentleman jab. [[Down smash]] has slow start up and less raw power, but has very large, mostly disjointed range as it makes use of the invulnerable parts of Ridley's wings, along with totally lacking a sourspot. It's start up has Ridley hurtbox shift upwards, potentially evading attacks, allowing it to hard punish grabs or certain attacks. It is also a notoriously effective punishment option after a successful Skewer sweetspot, as it can cover most get-up options. This more commonly is used to cover ledge get-up options from the opponent, as with proper timing, Down Smash can cover almost the entire cast's options to return to stage, only being checked by moves that can hit from below stage (like Ridley's own uair). Finally, [[up smash]] is Ridley's fastest and most reliable smash attack; while not having the sheer power of the other two, it is still powerful in its own right, and is also a very effective anti-air as Ridley's foot is granted invulnerability. Overall, each of Ridley's grounded moves have different attributes that make them useful, while still giving him the typical great power of a heavyweight.

Additionally, his special moveset offers interesting options. [[Plasma Breath]] is Ridley's projectile; it fires a small, bouncing ball of fire, and can be charged to fire from two to five; when fully charged, it can deal substantial damage if every projectile lands. These traits make it a useful damage-racking, combo-starting, and on-stage edgeguarding and gimping tool. However, landing a hit on Ridley's mouth during the move will deal extra damage and stuns him for a significant amount of time, though doing so will not deal any knockback to him. [[Skewer]] is a "high risk, high reward" punishment move that, when sweetspotted, deals extremely high damage and crumples enemies; while situational due to the high difficulty on sweetspotting the move, it puts the opponent in a dangerous position where Ridley can read their reaction. [[Space Pirate Rush]] is a command grab with some unique perks; it can be cancelled into a throw at any time that puts both Ridley and the opponent into the air. On land, Ridley drags the opponent on the ground, dealing high damage when performed from one ledge to another, and launching opponents offstage when Ridley reaches the edge of a floor, with the launch being capable of KOing at high percentages. In the air, it makes Ridley drop down to the floor until he lands, which can allow for easy gimps offstage as Ridley can drag opponents closer to a blast zone, potentially leaving them too far to recover. Lastly, [[Wing Blitz]] is Ridley's primary recovery move. It can be aimed in four directions, with the forward input traveling at a slight downwards angle, the backward variant traveling at a slight upward one, and the down variant traveling at a slight diagonal angle in front of Ridley. All Wing Blitz variants have a large ledge sweetspot and have high knockback, with the down input meteor smashing opponents; the down input is also unique in that it can be used at the edge of the stage and grab the ledge as long as the down direction is not inputted for longer, which can let Ridley potentially ledge trump an unsuspecting opponent or send them straight down, depending on their position.